Outgoing minister Andrew Smith was seen as an unglamorous but safe pair of hands for one of the Cabinet's lowest profile roles.

He is perhaps best remembered for his opposition to privatising air traffic control when he declared at Labour's 1996 conference: "Our air is not for sale".

It was a rallying cry which was to haunt him
when Labour switched policies and proposed a public-private partnership for National Air Traffic Services.

ANDREW SMITH'S CAREER

1987: Enters Parliament

1988-92: Labour education spokesman

1992-94: Shadow Treasury spokesman

1994-96: Shadow chief secretary to the Treasury

1996-97: Shadow transport secretary

1997-99: Employment minister

1999-2002: Chief secretary to the Treasury

2002-2004: Work and pensions secretary

It was a blip in what has otherwise been a competent if unsparkling career - as many commentators also portray the man.

As a New Labour high-flyer who rose swiftly after the 1997 election victory, 51-year-old Mr Smith came into his own as chief secretary to the Treasury.

Promoted to the post in October 1999, he told interviewers a month later of his determination to keep "an iron grip" on spending.

That was when Labour's two-year commitment to stick to Tory spending plans was still in place - and Mr Smith proved himself the perfect guardian of what was a key election pledge.

Pensions protection

As Work and Pensions Secretary, Mr Smith tried to restore battered confidence in company pensions with his flagship Pensions Bill, which is still going through Parliament.

It creates a new pensions regulator to handle mis-selling cases and establishes a new pensions protection fund to help members of occupation scheme if their employer goes bust, although critics say it is not radical enough.

Mr Smith also moved to encourage saving by introducing the pensions credit last year, although opposition parties said this extended means testing.

And his department was to bear the brunt of planned job civil service job cuts, with 40,000 posts due for the axe.

Oxford days

Born in Reading and grammar school educated, Mr Smith went to Oxford University, joined the Labour party aged 22 and was elected to the city council in 1976 three years later.

In 1982 he chaired Oxford's "anti-Falklands-war committee", a stance reflected in his opposition to the Gulf War a decade later.